I have often wondered, as I'm sure many of you have, how a timeless classic would ride had it evolved over the years. The problem is how do you justify modifying said classic without destroying the very essence of what makes it a classic in the first place?
Late last year an opportunity arose to answer that question. Kaiser had a very tired Yo Eddy frame that had suffered the usual rusty seat tube and had paint that even a mother couldn't love. It was probably beyond ecconomical repair so an ideal candidate for a little tinkering. It was also a small frame- ideal for what I wanted with lots of standover.
The frame was media blasted to reveal 5 small holes in the bottom of the seat tube. It was then shipped of to Kevin Winter in Durham for repair and the addition of a disc mount and cable guides. Meanwhile I got on with deciding what parts to use.
I wanted the classic looks of a period bike but the improvements of modern tubeless tyres, threadless headset, suspension and most importantly disc brakes. This would make cornering and stopping as good as a modern bike.
I tried various different fork lengths to check geometry. The Yo Eddy was always a steep angled race bike with a relatively low bottom bracket. This being a 94 frame and already suspension corrected I discovered that fitting a 100mm fork would give the same geometry as my Cotic Soul- i bike I have done many a mile on over the last 18 months. Before sending the frame away i quickly built it up with a 100mm SID and tried it out. It was spot on, still sharp enough in the tight bits and beautifully balanced in the fast flowing bits- Game on!
The frame was returned a few weeks later. Kev had decided that the seat tube wasn't bad enough to justify a full replacement. He drilled out the holes and made small 5mm plugs and brazed them in. The repair was invisible. He added a disc mount and brace as well as the cable guides and removed the canti bosses and cable bridge. Absolutely top notch work, the frame came back ready for paint apart from the original top tube guides that now needed to lose a notch.
A quick build to make sure everything fitted and its off for paint.
I then powder coated the frame in white before laying on 12 coats of flouro followed by 4 or 5 coats of clear laquer. Unfortunately it doesnt photograph too well- it really is eye burningly bright!
The forks (2001 SID 100 Hydra Air) were stripped and rebuilt. I had to cut off the pressed in crown as it was 1 1/8th and fitted a late 90's Judy DH threadless 1" steerer and crown. The legs were disc and canti- I hate unused canti mounts so these were carefully cut away and smoothed into the legs for a cleaner look. These were then colour coded and Gil did a set of Neo Retro RockShox RS1 decals and over sized Eddy decals which I think look a treat.
Next job was to gather the parts. I chose Formula Racing 4 pots for the brakes. I've always liked Formula's and run them on my modern bikes. These will be kitted out with Goodridge Hoses and Sintered pads later this week. I wanted strong but light wheels that I could run tubeless. A pair of Sun Ringle Wheels I had in the shed would do the trick although I now have some red Hope Pro hubs to build up when I get the time. The rims were de stickered (front still to do) and I fitted my favourite tyre combo- tubeless Kenda Blue Groove up front and an Excavator on the back.
So that was the modern bits sorted. As I said, I wanted that period look. that meant lots of nice anno. I have always loved the Guvnors Sublime Grellow Yo with all the red bling and I decided to use that as my starting point. I collected a few tasty parts- a NOS Ringle stem from Sith, a NOS Control Tech post from Kaiser, a set of silver Grafton cranks and shipped them all off to Mansfield Anodisers. A week later I had a pile of red bling ready to fit. I added to this a few red touches- bolts, QR's, and a new Chris King Sotto Voce headset.
Busy workload meant that it took about a month to build it up, but today it is almost done. I still need a few small items- hose connectors, a chainring bolt (gawd knows how i managed to lose one). These should be here over the next few days and I hope to use the bike on Friday for the Big Dirty Weekender recce.
So then. Not one for the purists I guess, but a very capable machine that has the best of both worlds- the craftsmanship and beauty of the 90's and the handling of a modern bike. I will let you know how i get on with in.
A big thanks to Kaiser, Sithlord, Kev Winter and last but not least Gil for the superb decals.
Enjoy the pics
Frame: 1994 Fat Chance Team Yo Eddy 'Grellow' in Small/Medium with disc mounts
Fork: Modified Rock Shox SID 100 Hydra Air with Judy DH crown
Headset: Chris King Sotto Voce
Stem: Ringle
Handlebar: X-Lite
Grips: ODI Ruffian Lock on
Brakes: Formula B4 Racing, 4 piston with Goodridge hoses
Brake Pads: Sintered Goodridge
Brake discs: Formula 180mm
Shifters: Shimano Deore XTR M900 on later polished XT mounts
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XTR M900
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XTR M900
Derailleur Cables: Transfil Flying Snake Kevlar
Cassette: SRAM 8 speed
Chain: KCNC 9SL
Cranks: Grafton Speedstix II
Crank Bolts: Middleburn Self Extracting
Chainrings: Middleburn
Chainring bolts: Middleburn
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Sealed
Pedals: TBC
Hub Skewers: USE Spinstix
Rims: Sun Ringle
Hubs: Hope Pro (to be fitted at time of writing)
Nipples: Brass
Spokes: Sapim
Tyres: Kenda Tubeless, Blue Groove front, Excavator rear
Tubes: none
Saddle: Flite Alpes titanium(to be fitted)
Seatpost: Control Tech
Seatpost Binder: Annodized Fat clamp with Ringle Ti Stix binder
Weight: Not known but around 26lbs
Clean lines now the canti mounts are gone. really shows off the beauty of Chris Chance's frames.
Late last year an opportunity arose to answer that question. Kaiser had a very tired Yo Eddy frame that had suffered the usual rusty seat tube and had paint that even a mother couldn't love. It was probably beyond ecconomical repair so an ideal candidate for a little tinkering. It was also a small frame- ideal for what I wanted with lots of standover.
The frame was media blasted to reveal 5 small holes in the bottom of the seat tube. It was then shipped of to Kevin Winter in Durham for repair and the addition of a disc mount and cable guides. Meanwhile I got on with deciding what parts to use.
I wanted the classic looks of a period bike but the improvements of modern tubeless tyres, threadless headset, suspension and most importantly disc brakes. This would make cornering and stopping as good as a modern bike.
I tried various different fork lengths to check geometry. The Yo Eddy was always a steep angled race bike with a relatively low bottom bracket. This being a 94 frame and already suspension corrected I discovered that fitting a 100mm fork would give the same geometry as my Cotic Soul- i bike I have done many a mile on over the last 18 months. Before sending the frame away i quickly built it up with a 100mm SID and tried it out. It was spot on, still sharp enough in the tight bits and beautifully balanced in the fast flowing bits- Game on!
The frame was returned a few weeks later. Kev had decided that the seat tube wasn't bad enough to justify a full replacement. He drilled out the holes and made small 5mm plugs and brazed them in. The repair was invisible. He added a disc mount and brace as well as the cable guides and removed the canti bosses and cable bridge. Absolutely top notch work, the frame came back ready for paint apart from the original top tube guides that now needed to lose a notch.
A quick build to make sure everything fitted and its off for paint.
I then powder coated the frame in white before laying on 12 coats of flouro followed by 4 or 5 coats of clear laquer. Unfortunately it doesnt photograph too well- it really is eye burningly bright!
The forks (2001 SID 100 Hydra Air) were stripped and rebuilt. I had to cut off the pressed in crown as it was 1 1/8th and fitted a late 90's Judy DH threadless 1" steerer and crown. The legs were disc and canti- I hate unused canti mounts so these were carefully cut away and smoothed into the legs for a cleaner look. These were then colour coded and Gil did a set of Neo Retro RockShox RS1 decals and over sized Eddy decals which I think look a treat.
Next job was to gather the parts. I chose Formula Racing 4 pots for the brakes. I've always liked Formula's and run them on my modern bikes. These will be kitted out with Goodridge Hoses and Sintered pads later this week. I wanted strong but light wheels that I could run tubeless. A pair of Sun Ringle Wheels I had in the shed would do the trick although I now have some red Hope Pro hubs to build up when I get the time. The rims were de stickered (front still to do) and I fitted my favourite tyre combo- tubeless Kenda Blue Groove up front and an Excavator on the back.
So that was the modern bits sorted. As I said, I wanted that period look. that meant lots of nice anno. I have always loved the Guvnors Sublime Grellow Yo with all the red bling and I decided to use that as my starting point. I collected a few tasty parts- a NOS Ringle stem from Sith, a NOS Control Tech post from Kaiser, a set of silver Grafton cranks and shipped them all off to Mansfield Anodisers. A week later I had a pile of red bling ready to fit. I added to this a few red touches- bolts, QR's, and a new Chris King Sotto Voce headset.
Busy workload meant that it took about a month to build it up, but today it is almost done. I still need a few small items- hose connectors, a chainring bolt (gawd knows how i managed to lose one). These should be here over the next few days and I hope to use the bike on Friday for the Big Dirty Weekender recce.
So then. Not one for the purists I guess, but a very capable machine that has the best of both worlds- the craftsmanship and beauty of the 90's and the handling of a modern bike. I will let you know how i get on with in.
A big thanks to Kaiser, Sithlord, Kev Winter and last but not least Gil for the superb decals.
Enjoy the pics
Frame: 1994 Fat Chance Team Yo Eddy 'Grellow' in Small/Medium with disc mounts
Fork: Modified Rock Shox SID 100 Hydra Air with Judy DH crown
Headset: Chris King Sotto Voce
Stem: Ringle
Handlebar: X-Lite
Grips: ODI Ruffian Lock on
Brakes: Formula B4 Racing, 4 piston with Goodridge hoses
Brake Pads: Sintered Goodridge
Brake discs: Formula 180mm
Shifters: Shimano Deore XTR M900 on later polished XT mounts
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XTR M900
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XTR M900
Derailleur Cables: Transfil Flying Snake Kevlar
Cassette: SRAM 8 speed
Chain: KCNC 9SL
Cranks: Grafton Speedstix II
Crank Bolts: Middleburn Self Extracting
Chainrings: Middleburn
Chainring bolts: Middleburn
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Sealed
Pedals: TBC
Hub Skewers: USE Spinstix
Rims: Sun Ringle
Hubs: Hope Pro (to be fitted at time of writing)
Nipples: Brass
Spokes: Sapim
Tyres: Kenda Tubeless, Blue Groove front, Excavator rear
Tubes: none
Saddle: Flite Alpes titanium(to be fitted)
Seatpost: Control Tech
Seatpost Binder: Annodized Fat clamp with Ringle Ti Stix binder
Weight: Not known but around 26lbs
Clean lines now the canti mounts are gone. really shows off the beauty of Chris Chance's frames.
